M.E. Sprengelmeyer on “Fit to Print”

The Fit to Print team had the privilege of spending a week with M.E. Sprengelmeyer, publisher of the Guadalupe County Communicator, in Santa Rosa, New Mexico last week. M.E. wrote the following piece about us, which first appeared in his paper.

No, it’s not a horror film.

Still, this week you might have seen a small documentary film crew running around downtown Santa Rosa, trying not to terrify the populace as they tell Santa Rosa’s little part in a big, national story.

Adam Chadwick and Derek Callahan are from the film “Fit to Print.”  It gets its name from the New York Times’ motto: “All the news that’s fit to print.”

Who Needs Meetings? Online News Ventures Do

By Susan Older

Founder, Displaced Journalists

I realized quite recently that I’ve been missing out on something that should be fascinating: TimesCast – a daily video feature on The New York Times site featuring interviews with writers and editors covering hot stories of the day and snippets from meetings of senior editors discussing what should go on the front page on that particular day.

The newspaper launched “TimesCast” March 22, 2010, with a short story featuring this quote from Ann Derry, the paper’s editorial director for video and television. “It’s not just straight, breaking news, it’s talking about the way The New York Times is looking at the story – our analysis, our particular take on the story. We already produce a lot of video to go along with stories, but we felt the need to have a regular video news overview on the home page.”

Hold Tight, My Young Ilk, Because We’ve Got Some Money Coming Our Way

In a particularly obtuse episode of the seminal 90′s animated Batman series, Batman stumbles upon a subterranean city of runaway children, stigmatized mute and averse to sunlight and forced by a crazed Sewer King to steal pocket watches. No one thought of looking for workforce injustice in the sewers — least of all Mr. Wayne, who of course was occupied with more overt villains forged in improbable acid accidents — but it was there. And in the end, Batman made sure those mole children filed W-4s and were offered transportation stipends and equality was had.

I reference this now because it is not entirely unlike the recent and sudden Adult interest in the sub-employee status of their children, occurring for years in the shadows, but only now brought to the surface in a swell of apparent shock and indignation. Surely they must have noticed their progeny absent from their usual stations in the couch for time on end, yet still asking for gas money. Where did they suspect they were, I wonder, working these magical volunteer jobs of indeterminate hours?

In any case, now they know, and they agree it’s probably less than legal.